India – Comprehensive Abortion Care a Far Cry

Comprehensive Abortion Care a Far Cry
As per the national statistics, only 22 percent abortions are carried out in health facilities while 73 percent are medication-based.

Published: 22nd December 2019
By KG Suresh

At a quiz conducted recently for state-level health communicators in Bihar, it was found that some were not aware that abortions were legal in India while some others thought a woman required the consent of her husband or father for aborting her foetus. In fact, some of them were not even aware of the difference between emergency contraception and abortion drugs. This was significant given the fact that Bihar with 1.25 million abortions annually accounted for a sizeable chunk of the 15.6 million abortions annually estimated in the country by Lancet, an international health journal. Neighbouring Uttar Pradesh reported 3.15 million abortions.

As per the national statistics, only 22 per cent abortions are carried out in health facilities while 73 per cent are medication-based. The national average of unsafe abortions stood at 5 per cent, meaning thereby that about 10 women lose their lives daily because of unsafe abortions.

Continued: https://www.newindianexpress.com/magazine/voices/2019/dec/22/comprehensive-abortion-care-a-far-cry-2078438.html

Kenya – Cultural abortion: The unspoken cruelty destroying girls’ lives

Cultural abortion: The unspoken cruelty destroying girls' lives
She was warned that she couldn’t get pregnant before she is wed as it was a shame to her family and her taboo.

by Michelle Dibo
06 October 2019

Eddah looks much older than her actual age of 17. She is admitted at the Maralal Referral Hospital for the 17th time.

It is funny that her age and the number of times she has been admitted at the hospital due to miscarriages is the same. She does not seem to recognise this irony when I speak with her.

“I just want to have a child,” she tells me. Her voice so sad you can hear the melancholic backdrop if you listen close enough.

Continued: https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2019-10-06-cultural-abortion-the-unspoken-cruelty-destroying-girls-lives/

India – Sexual health largely neglected, reproductive health not a priority in policy discourse

Sexual health largely neglected, reproductive health not a priority in policy discourse

The story highlights harsh truths on sexual and reproductive rights, which are mostly not protected and thus practically non-existent.
Kalpana Apte
27th Jun 2019

Sexual and Reproductive Health & Rights (SRHR) is a concept that Indians, and South Asians are largely ignorant and aloof about. The taboo around topics like sex and sexuality is the root cause for the many issues people, especially women, face daily. According to a 2019 report by the Family Planning Association (FPA), India, 14 per cent of pregnancies amongst women aged under 20 are unplanned. It posits further that over 34 per cent of adolescent married girls admitted to being physically, emotionally, or sexually assaulted. Fifty per cent of maternal deaths among girls from 15-19 years of age occur due to unsafe abortion practices. All this in a scenario where sexual and reproductive health is not even a category that has its own laws and medical courses.

Continued: https://yourstory.com/socialstory/2019/06/sexual-health-reproductive-health-policy-discourse

27.06.2019